Accelerating Air Track Glider

Mechanics > Newton's Laws > Newton's Second Law

DCS# 1G10.10

ACCELERATING AIR TRACK GLIDER

air track	201A
300 g glider	202-14-C3
5 g weight hanger + additional 305 g slotted masses	101-05-D
string	202-02-C3
smart pulley mounted to newer photogate	202-14-C1
low friction pulley	101-05-G3
mounting hardware	202-01, 03
laptop with LoggerPro	206
LabPro	107-02-B3

DESCRIPTION

The weight of the 5 g weight hanger provides the force to accelerate the 300 g glider across the track. Monitor the velocity of the system with the smart pulley. If we regard the mass of the weight hanger as negligible compared to that of the glider, we can double the mass of the system by adding another 300 g to the glider or double the force by adding another 5 g to the weight hanger.
NOTES: Use the "air track newtons2nd.cmbl" file (sensor setup: photogate, motion timing, 10 spoke ultrapulley). It is set to record data for 8 seconds, but only display the first two or three, so the data associated with the bounce from the end stop is not visible.

Friction in the pulley system causes the accelerations to be a bit smaller than theory predicts.

To overlay the graphs, release the glider just as you click collect, then choose Data > Store Latest Run when the run is complete. Click and drag on the graph to select the velocity data of interest and use the "R=" button to fit a straight line to it.